Chinese word

当年

Pronunciation

Pinyindāng nián

Meaning

  • adverbback then

Example

当年我们都很年轻。dāng nián wǒ men dōu hěn nián qīng

Back then, we were all young.

Illustration for 当年 (back then)

More examples

当年公司刚成立，只有几个员工。dāng nián gōng sī gāng chéng lì zhí yǒu jǐ gè yuán gōng

Back then, the company had just been established and had only a few employees.

Core concept

A past year or period held in memory as a meaningful reference point.

Common phrases

  • 当年 毕业dāng nián bì yè

    graduate that year

  • 当年 成立dāng nián chéng lì

    be established that year

  • 当年 获得dāng nián huò dé

    obtain that year

Similar words

当时dāng shí: Refers to the specific time when an event happened or a situation existed.
以前yǐ qián: Refers broadly to a period before a stated or understood point in time.
那时nà shí: Refers to a particular past time indicated by the speaker or the context.
往年wǎng nián: Refers to years in the past, especially earlier years viewed as a group.

Definition in Chinese

表示在过去某一特定年份或当时的情形，既可独立作时间副词，也可与「的」连用修饰名词，常见于书面或回忆性的语境。biǎo shì zài guò qù mǒu yí tè dìng nián fèn huò dāng shí de qíng xíng jì kě dú lì zuò shí jiān fù cí yě kě yǔ de lián yòng xiū shì míng cí cháng jiàn yú shū miàn huò huí yì xìng de yǔ jìng

Word origin

The combination of 当 (dāng, "that or at the time") and 年 (nián, "year") points to a specific past time and naturally extends to recollection of the period around it.

Usage tips

  • When it modifies a noun, English usually places the time expression before the noun or recasts the clause, so a literal word-for-word order can sound unnatural.

Other meanings

  • that yearnoun

Opposites

Word lists with this word